Are You the Type that Likes to Run with Scissors? McKenna Long Has a Test to Exclude You
McKenna Long & Aldridge noticed a difference between the way it was hiring new lawyers and the way its corporate clients hired top employees, and decided to do something about it.
“We found that six 30-minute interviews and a lunch are not the norm in their processes for hiring candidates who will earn a six-figure salary,” the firm’s chief recruiting and development officer, Jennifer Queen, writes for the Careerist. “Corporate America uses one-on-one interviews with psychologists; personality, leadership, and emotional intelligence assessments; simulations and case studies; written essays; and behavioral interviewing in making an informed hiring decision.”
In 2007, the firm formed a task force to review its hiring process. It identified the success factors and characteristics of successful lawyers at the firm and then determined what companies and products could help the law firm find lawyers fitting the bill.
Now McKenna Long has a 30-minute test for job candidates that is “composed of Myers Briggs-type questions and some problem solving,” Queen writes. “There is no perfect score. There are no right or wrong answers. The assessment helps identify the ‘shades of gray.’ ” The results help interviewers ask more probing questions during the hiring process.
She gives an example of how the firm would probe whether someone is a team player—one of the characteristics of successful lawyers at the firm. “If the assessment results show someone who strongly prefers to work independently and is extreme in the self-confidence trait as well as someone who is unconventional (ignores rules and authority), we would use our behavioral interview questions to probe into the candidate’s past behaviors to find out if he or she likes to collaborate or prefers to ‘run with the scissors,’ ” she says.
The interviewer’s questions would include: What teams have you been a part of? What role did you play in those teams? What did you do to fulfill your role? What did you do to develop productive relationships with team members?
The hiring committee would be concerned about someone who avoided being part of teams, had few leadership roles, did not build rapport with others, and blamed others for problems on the team.
Prior coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Do You Like Flowers? A Yes Answer Didn’t Help Careerist Blogger”
